Do you own an older property in Austria? Selling becomes more expensive from 2027

Anyone who bought before 2002 will pay more from 2027 — houses with land and older plots are affected most.

When you sell a property in Austria, you pay tax on the gain. For older properties — those bought before 1 April 2002 — the state does not calculate the actual gain. It simply assumes a flat amount. This is simpler for everyone and usually favourable for the seller.

It is precisely this flat amount that is now being increased. The law has already been passed.

For a normal apartment or house:

• Sale up to 31 December 2026: you pay 4.2% of the sale price
• Sale from 1 January 2027: you pay 6% of the sale price

For land that was rezoned after 1987

(for example from green land to building land):

• Sale up to 31 December 2026: 18% of the sale price
• Sale from 1 January 2027: 21% of the sale price

What counts is the date of the sale — not when you decided to sell.

A great many sales are not affected at all. You pay no tax whatsoever if:

• You lived in the apartment or house yourself — either for two continuous years since purchase, or for five years within the last ten. This is the most common situation for private individuals.
• You built the house yourself and it has not been let in the last ten years. In that case the building is exempt, though not the land.

The change also does not affect you if you bought the property after 1 April 2002. In that case everything stays as it is.
Important for inherited property: What matters is not when you inherited, but when the deceased bought the property. An apartment your parents bought in 1990 therefore remains an “old” property in your hands as well.

A sale takes longer than most people expect. Finding a buyer, waiting for their financing, drafting the contract, completing the transaction — that is usually several weeks to months.

Anyone who wants to make use of the more favourable 2026 rules should therefore not start the process in November. Realistically, that means now.

But the reverse also applies: do not sell anything for tax reasons alone. If you want to keep the property, the new rules change nothing — the tax only arises if you actually sell.

A short conversation is usually enough to establish whether you are affected at all and whether a sale this year makes financial sense. As part of drafting the purchase contract, we also handle the calculation and payment of the tax to the tax office.

Mag. Nevena Shotekova-Zöchling
Attorney at Law, Vienna
Marc-Aurel-Straße 6/Top 14, 1010 Vienna
office@advokat-wien.at · www.advokat-wien.at
Advice also available in Russian, English and Bulgarian.